Hedonistic Hope, Chump Change and the Demise of Democracy

When you look at the tyranny that U.S. "Democracy" has become since President Obama took office you realize that Mr. Obama's hedonistic hope has given us chump change. Despite the duplicitous "hope and change" rhetoric (link: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/04/05/democrats), Mr. Obama -- whose actions have spoken louder than his eloquent words -- has done more to destroy Democracy and civil liberties than his flagrantly appointed predecessor (link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/05/obama-gives-up-pretend-hope-act-and.html).

Upon being appointed to office by a the quintet of criminally corrupt U.S. Supreme Court "Justices" in 2000, President George W. Bush's pusillanimous secretive actions made it evident that he and his criminal regime believed themselves to be above the law while they immorally and illegally gained unprecedented powers. President Obama has taken Bush's delusions to a new low, cruelly cultivating hope while perpetuating unfair change (link: http://www.dylanratigan.com/2011/05/23/cultivating-hope-while-perpetuating-unfairness-is-cruel/). Indeed, the fallaciously awarded Nobel Peace prize awarded to newly-elected President Obama was most presumptuous (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30151.htm).

On December 31, 2011, expanding on Bush's draconian policies, President Barack Obama -- breaking yet another of many promises (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/02-7) -- signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which authorizes $626 billion for the U.S. defense budget -- less CIA covert operations and other illegal activities conducted by the U.S. Government -- making a mockery of basic civil liberties while further solidifying the death knell for the Bill of Rights (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/19-10). Obama's record on civil rights is more abysmal than Bush's (link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/dec/23/obama-abysmal-record-civil-liberty), and the U.S. Government has continued looting Social Security to wage its illegal wars (link: http://inteldaily.com/2011/04/u-s-government-looting-social-security-to-wage-wars/).

The NDAA Makes the President a Dictator

The NDAA shreds rights and liberties, putting every American -- including the illustrious Congress that egregiously passed it (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30139.htm) -- at risk for arbitrary, indefinite incarceration with no real rights for recourse or proving innocence. When you give up basic human rights to keep you "safe," you're not safe at all. The NDAA solidifies Governmental secrecy and allows it to continue terrorizing innocent U.S. citizens. The worst part is, the destruction of rights and liberties is based on fallacious enemies created and funded by the U.S. Government (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30157.htm).

Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA authorize the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without trial, of suspected "terrorists" who could then be shipped to Guantanamo Bay. The bill turns the American President into a dictator. The loosely worded "legislation" asserts the President's authority to use the military to detain any person accused -- guilty or not -- of aiding Al Qaeda (with the obvious exception of the CIA that creates, funds, and trains it), or anyone who commits a "belligerent act" against the U.S. or its coalition allies under the law of war - which we've seen the past decade are non-existent as the U.S. Government has committed massive crimes against humanity with impunity since Bush's appointment. As noted by Glenn Greenwald, the only purpose the U.S. "Justice" system serves is to shield those with the greatest power who commit the most egregious crimes (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30342.htm).

Obama cited the Authorization For Use of Military Force (AUMF) Act that was passed in Congress on September 14, 2001 which egregiously claims that those detained may be detained without trial until the end of hostilities authorized by the AUMF. Those hostilities are never going to end as long as Washington's culture of corruption is in charge. As with all the surreptitious "legislation" written by lobbyists and authorized by corrupt Congress critters, there was no public discussion or debate about the legality of it. Since 9/11, the U.S. Government has succeeded -- albeit illegally -- in destroying the Bill of Rights that has been in place since December 1791.

War Crimes are Dismissed as “Collateral Damage”

What Obama's embracement of the NDAA signifies is that writers who are critical of Washington's illegal wars and subversion of the U.S. Constitution could find themselves indefinitely detained because criticizing Washington's culture of corruption will inevitably be construed by its leaders as aiding Washington's enemies (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30151.htm). The Bush/Obama cabal's have tried for years to lay the foundation for imprisoning those who tell the truth about Washington's illegal activities without due process of law. Those who cheer for Washington's illegal agendas are left alone while those who speak the truth are denied their rights under the First amendment. The hypocrisy espoused by Washington in fighting illegal wars while committing atrocious crimes against humanity is astronomical.

Look at Bradley Manning, the alleged "spy" who purportedly released a slew of government secrets to WikiLeaks. Manning is being scapegoated by the U.S. Government which is doing their damnedest to paint him as a traitor for revealing their lies and massive crimes against humanity. Do you think he will receive a fair trial? Not as long as the U.S. Government is using him as a pawn. Since the appointment of George W. Bush to the presidency, war crimes committed by the U.S. Government are dismissed as "collateral damage," and those who commit the atrocious crimes against humanity are rewarded. Washington lies about everything.

The man that Manning allegedly released the information to -- Julian Assange -- is considered by the U.S. Government as an enemy of the state because he had the audacity to release the information to the public. The deadly games being used by the U.S. Government to try and put Assange in indefinite detention reveal the lengths that Washington's culture of corruption will go to exonerate itself by trying to paint Manning and Assange as criminals. In reality, it won't work, but in the delusional minds of those that lead Washington's culture of corruption, terrorizing the truth tellers will absolve them of any and all wrongdoing.

The U.S. Government claims to be a government that promotes "freedom and Democracy" while bringing it to other countries, but when signing the NDAA, President Obama issued signing statements reserving his right, regardless of any law, to send any American citizen, without due process or Constitutional protection, abroad to be tortured (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30151.htm). "Freedom and Democracy" are dying in the U.S. thanks to its Government, despite the rhetoric it bloviates.

U.S. Foreign Policy Brings Democracy’s Demise to America

How did we get to this point? Bush and his criminal cabal -- many of which are still running rampant in Obama's administration – streamlined America's decent from Democracy to Tyranny. If you think about it, we probably would not have been attacked by "terrorists" on 9/11 if Bush had not been appointed to the presidency in 2000. After all, the Project For a New American Century -- the fraudulent "think tank" whose leadership held key positions in Bush's cabal -- fabricated the very same attacks years before they actually (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century) pulled them off after Bush's appointment. Despite the American people donating almost $700 million to his 2008 presidential campaign, former CEOs from his top 20 contributing corporate PACs (link: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00009638) -- including the ever-present Goldman Sachs -- and almost 200 lobbyists hold key positions of authority in Mr. Obama's administration. The U.S. public still has no say in Washington's politics.

Look at all the illegal legislation -- prefabricated well in advance of the 9/11 "terrorist" attacks -- that our illustrious Congress passed after the Bush cabal's preplanned terrorist attack that fateful day. The egregiously misnamed "PATRIOT" Act (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27806.htm) - which was authored years before it was illegally implemented, allegedly by our very own Neocon Vice-President Joe Biden (link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/12/ron-paul-%E2%80%9Cthe-patriot-act-was-written-many-many-years-before-911-and-the-attacks-simply-provided-opportunity-for-some-people-to-do-what-they-wanted-to-do%E2%80%9D.html) - was the first major stepping stone to dismantling the U.S. Constitution and Democracy in America. Since its illegal inception, the U.S. Government has made sure it didn't expire and most of Congress has acquiesced to whatever the President asked for (link: http://freakoutnation.com/2011/12/31/the-only-senators-congress-persons-who-never-supported-the-patriot-act-and-ndaa/).

The slow and steady destruction of Democracy and the illegal Presidential power grabs (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/24-8) were all premeditated and ill-conceived. There have been no "terrorist" attacks in the U.S. since 9/11, aside from those concocted and organized by the FBI. If you take an honest look at the "terrorist" attacks of 9/11, it becomes blatantly obvious that the "terrorists" that attacked us that day were employees of the CIA and Mossad, and that the U.S. Government was heavily involved in perpetrating those attacks. Yet the U.S. public has rolled over and allowed its corrupted Government, under false pretenses, to destroy everything to keep them "safe." Over the past decade, the U.S. Government, under the leadership of the Bush/Obama regimes has revealed just how Orwellian the U.S. is. In one decade, the U.S. has been transformed from a Democracy into a Dictatorship by duplicitously manipulating terrorism (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30159.htm). As with Bush's Administration, there are no checks or balances for Obama's administration and no accountability for the crimes that have been egregiously committed.

A Dubious History of Deception under the Guise of Spreading “Democracy”

The U.S. has had a dubious history of creating enemies (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30314.htm) and wars while committing crimes under the guise of spreading "Democracy" (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30343.htm), revealing, as noted by John Pilger, the ruthless nature of a whole system behind its democratic facade, and the scale of our own indoctrination to its messlanic assumptions, described by Harold Pinter as a "brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis." For instance, since the Second World War, the U.S. has: attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of which were democratically-elected; attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries; grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries; dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries; and attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders. In fact, 69 countries -- in most cases, with British collaboration -- have been terrorized by U.S. foreign policy (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30303.htm). Creating enemies took on a whole new meaning after Bush's appointment. Instead of changing America's corrupt political system, Obama has capitalized on it.

Over the past several decades, the U.S. Government has mastered the deceptive art of inundating a purposely misinformed public with perpetual propaganda and omitting facts and truth. Most Americans don't know that the most numerous victims of terrorism -- Washington's terrorism -- are Muslims because presstitute corporate media doesn't mention it (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30303.htm). There are many reasons for that (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26193.htm), including the fact that six large corporations -- GE, Time Warner, Viacom, Disney, News Corp. and CBS Corp. -- control the vast majority of "News" the public gets. Most of those corporations have multi-billion dollar defense contracts with the U.S. Government through the military-industrial complex corporations they own.

Look at the Television networks each company owns: GE (and Comcast/Xfinity) owns NBC Universal among many others; Time Warner owns CNN, TBS and TNT among many others; Viacom owns MTV and VH1 among many others; Disney owns ABC, A&E, ESPN and Lifetime among many others; News Corp. owns the FOX Network, including FOX “News” among many others; and CBS owns the CBS Network among many others (link: http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main). These six monolithic corporations own all kinds of media outlets but don't bother telling the American people the truth about what their Government does because they would lose billions of dollars in revenue. Washington's culture of corruption thrives when the U.S. public is purposely misinformed, and truth and fact are its biggest enemies. An informed public is dangerous to a corrupted Government.

How ignorant and misinformed are we? As David Macaray noted, most people don't pay attention to history, government and public policy. Basic facts and principles tend to elude us because they are ignored by presstitute corporate media. Many Americans are unaware that the population of the U.S. is almost 312 million, that we have 535 Congress persons and Senators, or that women weren't allowed to vote until 1920, or that state legislatures, not citizens, chose our U.S. Senators until the 17th amendment was passed in 1913 (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/24-9). Sadly, many Tea Partiers are even more ignorant. While attending rallies, some Tea Partiers hold up placards with the words "Keep the Government out of my Medicare," completely oblivious to the fact that Medicare is run by the Government. It has been proven repeatedly that those who watch corporate media, particularly FOX News, are the most misinformed.

Invoking “Our Values” While Killing Democracy and Creating a Police State

President Obama has flip-flopped on a lot of issues (link: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100083104/the-u-turn-president-barack-obama-top-ten-flip-flops/), including his stance on terrorism. Last year Obama gave himself the authority to assassinate any American without due process or proof of guilt, and the egregiously misnamed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to focus its terroristic actions on "domestic extremists," which the DHS conveniently left undefined so it could designate whomever it decided to pursue as "terrorists," especially those who question the repetitious lies of the U.S. Government and point out its crimes.

Since 9/11, local and state law enforcement has been militarized and their attitude toward the U.S. public has shifted. Law enforcement no longer protects and serves the public. They serve the rich corporations running Washington's culture of corruption. The same applies to the U.S. Department of Justice. For example, if you steal $10 or get caught with a little bit of marijuana in most states, you could end up spending years in jail or prison. When you start illegal wars and bankrupt worldwide economies you receive total impunity for your crimes (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/25-8). After the "terrorist" attacks the Transportations Security Administration (TSA) was formed to "keep us safe" while traveling. Instead of keeping us safe, the TSA serves as the Gestapo at airports and will soon be doing the same thing at bus and train stations. Terrorizing U.S. citizens has replaced "Democracy." Illegal power grabs are now standard operating procedure and destroying Democracy has run rampant since Bush's appointment and because the U.S. population has become subservient to its Government's destruction of their rights, liberties and freedom. America has become a police state.

Ironically, while illegally creating a police state, politicians in Washington invoke "our values." What are "our values?" Illegal, indefinite detention without trial or proof of guilt, torture, renditions, warrantless searches, home invasions, illegal eavesdropping, police brutality, quashing dissenters and those who speak the truth, killing free speech and peaceful assembly rights, illegal wars and occupations of oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, disenfranchising voters and fixing elections in both the U.S. and other countries are just a few of "our values" in Washington (link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-the-united-states-still-the-land-of-the-free/2012/01/04/gIQAvcD1wP_print.html).

Obama has deceitfully furthered Bush's illicit Neocon agendas (link: http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=186491). Guantanamo is still open and U.S. sanctioned torture, though outsourced now, still takes place. Instead of trying terrorists in regular courts (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27833.htm) which are more than capable of handling the trials, President Obama reauthorized military tribunals so the U.S. public wouldn't learn the truth and to keep everything hidden (link: http://www.slate.com/id/2290359/). The alleged "terrorists" aren't tried in civilian criminal courts because they wouldn't be convicted, especially those that were brutally tortured by the U.S.

Obama’s Hedonistic Hope has Resulted in Chump Change

Corporate greed and massive Wall Street fraud (link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405) enabled by political collusion (link: http://www.thenation.com/article/159433/how-wall-street-crooks-get-out-jail-free?rel=emailNation) has bankrupt this country, both morally and financially, but instead of holding the fraudsters accountable President Obama's Treasury has rewarded them with more than $23 trillion dollars in fraudulent bailouts and is currently trying to negotiate a quick, easy settlement with no penalties or jail time for the criminals responsible for in the ongoing national mortgage foreclosure crisis.

President Obama has proved to be more of a Centrist Republican than a Democrat (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30087.htm) and is still hoping for spare change (link: http://www.infowars.com/obama-in-2012-stilling-hoping-for-change/). America's dilemma is that President Obama richly deserves to be dumped (link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29988.htm) but there is no one stepping forward to run against him and the ethically and morally corrupt Republican presidential contenders are delusional corporate whores who are just as bad if not worse than what we currently have.

Mr. Obama will probably also make history as the first political candidate to spend $1 billion on his re-election campaign (link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/04-2) which in itself speaks volumes as to where his loyalties lie. Both mainstream political parties -- Democrat and Republican -- are for the most part the same. Both parties are bought and paid for by Wall Street, large corporations and the billionaires that own them and both parties have done absolutely nothing to protect the American population and everything to destroy them, oftentimes in secret and behind closed doors. The rhetoric is almost always belied by the actions of both parties (link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/05-2).

Obama's hedonistic hope has resulted in chump change and the further destruction of American Democracy. Instead of holding the Bush cabal accountable, President Obama decided to join them when he looked forward, and didn't look back (link: http://harpers.org/archive/2010/09/hbc-90007662). Looking back would have put treasonous criminals -- including the ones in his administration -- who killed 3,000 innocent people for personal gain behind bars where they belong. In addition to destroying Democracy, rights and freedoms, Obama's actions have further eroded any credibility the U.S. may have had left. Whether Obama's decisions were based on his beliefs or his cowardice -- being blackmailed or threatened by the Secret Government that continues terrorizing the U.S. public remains to be seen – but until the U.S. public wakes up and We the People do something about it, nothing is going to change.
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